FEROX AND GILLAEOO. 77 



mention — the gillaroo, and the ferox, or ferocious one. 

 Gillaroos are short, thick, golden-bellied, large-spotted fish. 

 Their flesh is redder than that of a salmon; but their chief 

 peculiarity lies in a thickening of the stomach, which causes 

 a lump to appear in the belly, called by ignorant persons a 

 gizzard. This deformity is supposed to be caused by the small 

 snails — their principal food; but I have caught hundreds of 

 trout, evidently large snail-feeders, which had not this thicken- 

 ing of the stomach. Gillaroos are found in several of the 

 large Irish lakes, in Wales, and in Scotland. Ferox are pro- 

 bably ordinary lake trout,* of considerable age and size, which 

 have taken to feeding on their own kind. They fight like 

 demons when hooked, and are almost always taken on spin- 

 ning baits. They are extremely ugly. 



Lake trout, so far as my experience goes, appreciate certain 

 colours in the artificial fly infinitely more than the most 

 artistic imitation of the natural insect. On many lakes few 

 live flies are seen, but the trout rise splendidly to the 

 artificial. Most districts have special patterns, and the angler 

 will do well to be guided, especially as regards size, by what 

 the local people use. In some lakes, large flies must be used, 

 in others small. Sometimes the bodies cannot be too thfti; 

 at others a buzzy body is the most killing. Early in the 

 season the flies should be larger than later on, and on dark, 

 rough days larger than on calm days. In "Wales, small flies 

 are used ; on many lakes in the JSToi-th of Scotland they can 

 hardly be too large. In Ireland, medium-sized flies are 

 commonly used. A noted fly in the North of Scotland is 

 the Zulu — a large, black hackle, ribbed with silver twist, with 

 a red tail. In the South of Scotland, the Heckum Peckumf 

 is one of the best of flies. In Ireland, clarets and olives are 



* Ordinary brown trout were introduced into the Antipodes a few years back, 

 where none previously existed. Strange to say, trout having the appearance of 

 ferox have recently been caught there. This illustrates the extraordinary effect 

 a change of water and food may have on trout. At the present time, our Colonial 

 friends catch larger fish than we can boast in England. Some useful and enter- 

 taining descriptions of Colonial angling will be found in "Travel and Trout in the 

 Antipodes " (Chatto & Windus), by William Senior, author of " Waterside Sketches," 

 "Near and Far," &c., &c. 



t Body, red wool, with silver twist ; red hackle. Wing, white tip-feather from 

 the wing of a wild drake. Also dressed with green body and black hackle. 



